After the retrospective exhibition of Tony Craig in 1997, the Skopje Museum of Contemporary Art presents the work of Richard Deacon, one of the most significant representatives of a brilliant generation of sculptors (Alison Wilding, Bill Woodrow, Anthony Gormley, Shirazeh Houshiari, Anish Kapoor), who in the 1980’s bore the epithet “New British Sculpture” and who, with their specifics, marked the art of post-modernism at the end of the 20th century.
Richard Deacon is the winner of the Turner Prize in 1987, the Tate Gallery’s award, one of the most prestigious British and world awards, and in 2007 he represented Wales at the Venice Biennale.
In the presence of Richard Deacon, the exhibition was opened by Tihomir Topuzovski, the director of the Museum of Modern Art, and Marija Stanchevska-Gjorgova, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The opening was also attended by the British Ambassador to North Macedonia, Mr. Matthew Lawson, and representatives of the British Council.
Thursday, 6 Јune 19:30 – 21:30 & Friday, 7 Јune 17:30 – 19:30, MoCA Library
The first half of the workshop is called “Meme-thinking.” In this part, we will discuss theories ranging from media and cultural studies to art history, illustrating how memes can be contextualized within this framework. In the second half (titled “Meme-making”), we will go through the step-by-step process of making memes and start creating memes together in a collaborative format.
Cem A. is an artist with a background in anthropology. He is known for running the art meme page @freeze_magazine and for his performances and site-specific installations. His work explores topics such as survival and alienation in the art world, often through a hyper- reflexive lens and collaborative projects.
Cem A.’s selected solo exhibitions and installations include Louisiana Museum, Barbican Centre, Berlinische Galerie, and Museum Wiesbaden. His work was also included in documenta fifteen, Istanbul Modern, Mudam Luxembourg, Klima Biennale Vienna and 14. Biennial of Young Artists Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje. He has held lectures at Royal College of Art London, Central Saint Martins, HEAD Geneva, HDK Valand and Universität der Künste Berlin.
Those interested can register for the workshop by filling out the form.
The application period is open from May 29th to June 6th.
The workshop “Design for Resurgence” brings into practice the artist’s multi-year research. The goal is to sense new ways to design and act, which will be a direct and equal response to the world we live in, in the direction of the world we wish to create.
At the centre of this practice is the process of prototyping, developing models for embodiment and speculation, looking for insight into how humanity relates to the more-than-human world. The format of prototyping allows unformed ideas to be tested, putting the focus on their organizing principles as an attempt for a productive departure from anthropocentrism.
The question “How do we imagine the future?” is entangled with our choices as we create the present. This entanglement makes for a fertile soil for the field of speculative design to take root. But, what are these speculations? Do they contain any meaningful insight into possible ways to abandon our self-destructive trajectory, or are they simply palliative lullabies preparing us for an extinction event which seems more and more likely?
The participants will be split into teams. Each team will create speculative scenarios and prototypes, which can range from abstract ideas to detailed concepts.
The workshop is intended for everyone who is interested, regardless of their previous knowledge of design. The participants are encouraged to use their favourite tools: photography, video, drawing, digital illustration, text, performance etc, to articulate their vision for a resurgent world.
Dates: 10th and 12th of December 2024 from 7 to 10 PM. Everyone who is interested can apply until December 9th. https://forms.gle/e6FSsfBGa2GHBUL6A
The Large Glass, issue 37/38 engages in a series of interviews with recognised directors, artistic directors and curators working on different Biennial in 2025 – the 3rd Helsinki Biennial, 41st EVA International, 36th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, 13th Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA), 13th Momentum Biennial, 6th Art Encounters Biennial, and Sharjah Biennial 16. Here you can read an interview with Kati Kivinen, Head of Exhibitions at HAM Helsinki Art Museum, and Blanca de la Torre, Director of IVAM – Institut Valencià d’Art Modern—both artistic directors of the 3rd Helsinki Biennial. The interview was conducted by the internationaly renown Macedonian artist, Nada Prlja, before the opening of the Biennial.
NADA PRLJA _ Vallisaari Island’s last inhabitants left in 1996 (1), leaving the island undisturbed by human habitation for decades. On the one hand, the island’s thriving, unspoiled nature is populated by a range of grazing animals, unspoiled lakes, overgrown vegetation and other fascinating non-human natural kingdoms – while on the other hand, the history of human activity is a fruitful playground for, at least, the imagination of “keyboard warriors.” This island’s history recounts tales of Russian rule in the 19th century, including fortifications, batteries, the 1854 bombardment of the island, and the mutineers’ takeover in 1906. Moreover, in the 1950s, a group of adventurous children, citizens of the island, searched for the mouths of army tunnels and dug up forbidden explosives. This island is only a 20-minute boat ride from Helsinki, yet it feels like a story read aloud from a work of fiction for children.
With all this in mind, one of the biennial’s key principles is the inclusion of site-specific commissioned works for each edition, where art engages in a dialogue with the history of Vallisaari Island and its thriving nature.(2) It was clear from the outset of your concept, announced in June 2024, that you are aiming to oppose the human-centric perspective and to “focus on non-human subjects.”(3) This is not so surprising, considering the current state of Vallisaari island.
Could you explain why non-human subjects are at the centre of your focus?
KATI KIVINEN & BLANCA DE LA TORRE _ The third Helsinki Biennial seeks to shake us out of anthropocentrism in order to better understand the delicate and severely imbalanced relationship between humankind and nature. With this goal in mind, we have placed various non-human actors—plants, animals, fungi, elements and minerals—at the centre of our curatorial work. We believe that by shifting the focus away from humanity alone, we can make space for and gain understanding of others, while also striving to find more diverse ways of sensing and conveying knowledge about the world.
The exhibition also aims to highlight how, in the midst of the ongoing climate and environmental crisis, we need a new praxis that more broadly considers the impact of anthro- pogenic activity on planetary well-being. The artists focus their microscopic observations on the natural surroundings, while also creating interpretations that draft possible futures. This is where the power of art is at its best—in its ability to generate new agencies while simultaneously creating new realities.
N P _ The very concept of distancing oneself from a human-centric perspective is liberating. There is something positive and invigorating about focusing on non-human subjects. Which exhibitions or artworks served as your guiding inspiration while conceptually developing HB 2025?
K & B _ I am not sure if it was any specific exhibition or any particular artwork, but rather a practice that several artists that we have invited to participate in the third edition of the biennial have already been conducting for some time. And then, of course, a huge pile of books and texts by various writers and thinkers whose ideas have supported the development of our curatorial framework.
Likewise, the state of the planet is also one of the key factors behind the chosen curatorial framework, with the need to find new ways to address the current situation and to avoid losing hope and optimism in the project, which seldom leads towards new thinking and broadening perspectives. Therefore, our curatorial approach has been motivated by the search, over many years, for more responsible ways to address the ecological crisis, as well as the intention to take all our experiences one step further and propose some differential lines that mark a paradigm shift in the “biennial” model.
N P _ Blanca, as one of the leading curators dealing with issues of sustainability, you have developed concrete guidelines to reduce the ecological footprint of your past projects, such as the 15th International Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador, “Overview Effect” at the MoCAB Museum in Belgrade, Serbia, and “Con los pies en la T(t)ierra” at CAAM, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, to name a few. What are your specific ideas regarding sustainability and the Helsinki Biennial 2025?
Blanca de la Torre and Kati Kivinen, Head Curators of Helsinki Biennial 2025 Photo: Ilkka Saastamoinen/HAM/Helsinki Biennial
B _ For so many years, my professional goal has focused on how curatorship cannot work only at the discursive level, but also entails the development of situated cultural practices that consider the traceability of the materials with which we produce, as well as the processes, the collab- orators, the workers and all the other people involved and of course, in general, the (environmental, social, cultural) life cycle of the projects and climate justice as a backdrop.
An approach to “sustainable curating” implies developing projects that speak of ecology in content, form, and attitude. Showing environmental artistic practices that go hand-in-hand with sustainability discourses is a way to stimulate collective action, to rethink our cultural practices, and to encourage environmental empowerment. That is the line that I am developing further together with Kati and the whole team.
N P _ Kati, as one of the most prolific European curators and the Head of Exhibitions at HAM Helsinki Art Museum, how do you view your role as head of exhibitions in relation to being a co-curator of a biennial? Where do these roles overlap, and how do they differ? Could you please reflect on the public art aspect of the works for the biennial, and the idea of a growing collection of commissioned public art works on the island?
K _ That is a good question and not an easy one to answer. These roles overlap in many ways, in a good but also in a challenging way. The biggest challenge is of course time, since both positions demand a lot of it. But at the same time, one role supports the other, and I can be Blanca’s guide to the institution with which she has engaged for a few years, in order to work with us. As the Head of Exhibitions, my work comprises not only the development of the curatorial program for the museum with my team of curators, but also a significant amount of administrative work. Whereas in the biennial project, I have the freedom to concentrate more on the content together with Blanca, as we have a superb production team working with us.
Because HAM is a major player as a producer of new public art within the city of Helsinki, we also wish to find synergies between the biennial project and new commissions for public art. There are many challenges coming our way, mostly related to challenges in schedules—the public art commission projects tend to be quite long procedures, often lasting several years, whereas in the biennial project we are tied to the bi-yearly production schedule. But sometimes, it works out perfectly and for next year we already have two new public art commissions which will premiere in the Helsinki Biennial. After that, we intend to find a new location in the city of Helsinki.
N P _ Blanca writes: “It is not a matter of choice; [sustainability] is the only possible way.”(4) This aligns with the Helsinki City Strategy 2021–2025, which states that “the Helsinki Biennial (…) has been committed from the beginning to produce art in a sustainable manner.”(5) Sustainability, as outlined in the Helsinki City Strategy, could be understood as a means or method of producing the artworks of which the HB 2025 will consist. Will sustainability be integrated into the ideas presented by the artists and reflected in the communication of the artworks to the visitors, or will it be framed solely within the production process of the artworks (for example, ensuring that works are not shipped via DHL, or that their production avoids the use of non-degradable materials)? In other words, is sustainability your conceptual framework or a means of production of the artworks, or both?
K _ Sustainability does not stop at the conceptual frame- work of the exhibition, but it extends all the way to the production at all the various levels. For this we have also created a decalogue for a sustainable situated biennial, which clarifies our ethos behind making the exhibition, but also serves as a guideline to all involved in the project— curators, artists, production team and collaborators—on how we should estimate all the choices in the project.
B _ Exactly. “Sustainability” is not a theme or a concept, in the same way as “feminism” cannot be just a subject. It must be embedded structurally, in every institution, every museum, every project, every event and every decision we take. That’s why we need a systemic change so as to be able to face the ecological emergency.
1 “History,” Vallisaari, National Parks of Finland, accessed October 01, 2024, www.natio- nalparks.fi/vallisaarihistory.
2 “Sustainability,” Helsinki Biennial, accessed October 01, 2024, helsinkibiennaali.fi/en/ sustainability/.
3 “In Helsinki Biennial 2025, the Curators Focus on Non-Human Subjects,” Helsinki Biennial, accessed October 01, 2024, helsinkibiennaali. fi/en/story/in-helsinki-bien- nial-2025-the-curators-fo- cus-on-non-human-subjects/.
4 “Blanca De La Torre,” Blanca De La Torre, accessed October 01, 2024, blancadelatorre.net.
5 “Sustainability,” Helsinki Biennial, accessed October 01, 2024, helsinkibiennaali.fi/en/ sustainability/.
The full interviews can be read in the printed copy of The Large Glass, issue 37/38 available in the MoCA-Skopje shop or to be ordered on info@msu.mk. 3rd Helsinki Biennial from 8 June to 21 September 2025.
Title photo: Olafur Eliasson, Viewing machine, 2001/2003. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. © 2001/2003 Olafur Eliasson. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivane
The exhibition Forms that Fly, International Artists in French Collections, which will be open on 08.04.2025 at 8 pm is the second of the exhibitions planned for 2025 that enable the re – reading of selected works from the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje.
The Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje and the Faculty of Fine Arts, UKIM – Skopje, invite you to the “45 Years” exhibition. The exhibition features a selection of 45 works, from 45 authors, from the MoCA collection and works owned by artists – FFA teachers (since its founding to date), emphasizing the course of artistic expressions and practices in the last four and a half decades. The exhibition is accompanied by documentary articles in the history and activities of the FFA in order to valorize the inheritance of the faculty, but also to open new perspectives for its future.
Within the MSU Skopje Interdisciplinary Program, in the last five years, several lectures were held from different fields of critical theory, art criticism, contemporary art and museology, as well as conversations and artists talks presenting the works of Macedonian and world artists.
The recorded part of that program for the museum’s video and audio archive, which has already been published on the YouTube channel and the MSU Facebook network, can also be streamed on our website, which has recently been placed in the Educational Programs section: https://msu.mk/lectures/
The project of the fashion designer agnes b., the unique magazine point d’ironie (www.pointdironie.com/index.php) in its latest 67th edition presents the project of Leonard Hilton McGarr aka Futura, the American graffiti artist who together with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf in the 1980s became known for introducing abstraction within the street graffiti idiom.
Typically spread over eight pages, which are given to each artist invited by the magazine’s editor – well known Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist – point d’ironie in the latest issue brings Futura’s anti-war message, as the title of his project NO GUERRA reads: “NO GUERRA is a creative presentation of concepts, individuals, places and ideas. Thanks for your anti-war thoughts…”
The magazine is printed in one hundred thousand copies and distributed free of charge to art institutions and galleries in over one hundred countries worldwide. The Skopje Museum of Contemporary Art has been the only distributor for Macedonia for more than twenty years. The museum receives the magazine in a limited edition of one hundred copies, which can be obtained in the museum shop free of charge.
Lately one of the major restoration efforts of the Collections Department and the Conservation Department of the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje is the conservation of one of the significant works in the museum’s international collection, the painting Virtue in Necessity by the recently deceased Italian artist Gianfranco Baruchello (1924 – 2023).
The painting is part of a large donation of works of art by several Italian artists, donated in the mid-sixties, as an expression of solidarity with the Macedonian capital, the city of Skopje, which in 1963 was struck by a catastrophic earthquake.
In the multidisciplinary and idiosyncratic work of Baruchello – which includes painting, sculpture, film, poetry, psychoanalysis, happenings, agriculture and radical activism – the painting Virtue in Necessity from 1963 (mixed media on canvas, 190 x 200 cm inv. no. 01864), originates from the very beginnings of his artistic career when he created a group of paintings conceptually key to his further oeuvre; paintings filled with fragmentary drawings, miniature worlds scattered on the decentered surface of his canvases.
But unlike this entire cycle, which is typically painted on a white background, Virtue in Necessity stands out among several early canvases for its intense red and orange background and its distinctive drawings and symbols, which the artist himself compares to thought processes and dreams, something that is typical of the Baruchello’s oeuvre in general.
During its existence, the painting has suffered minor damages caused in part by the changing atmospheric conditions of exposure or deposition at certain times in the past, as well as one major damage on part of the surface layer of the canvas, caused several years ago by a sudden leaking of the museum’s roof. All these factors made it impossible to include the work in occasional museum exhibitions.
Finally, with the restoration and conservation project prepared by the Department of Collections and Depot and the Conservation Department, in close cooperation with Ema Petrova Nikolovska, senior conservator at the National Conservation Center – a project financially supported by the Ministry of Culture and approved by the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments – the painting of Baruchello will soon be restored to its original state.
After the previously conducted research and chemical, microscopic, X-ray, and infrared analysis of samples from the surface of the canvas and fragments of the paint, the conservators Ljupco Iljovski and Jadranka Milčovska, in consultation with Ema Petrova Nikolovska, started the process of restoration and conservation, which in several stages mainly includes: thorough cleaning of surfaces from chemical damage with chemical means, fixing the colored layer with Japanese paper, ironing the deformations of the canvas, antiseptic treatment of the “blind frame”, injecting a binder, putting the damaged areas with restoration putty and leveling with egg emulsion that follows the original texture of the painted surface.
With the realization of the project, the Department of Conservation and Restoration confirms itself as one of the successful sectors of MSU Skopje, which after many years of stagnation due to insufficient personnel, and technical and financial support, has been on the rise for several years now and starting with the employment of conservator Ljupco Iljovski, accompanied recently by the external collaborator, conservator Jadranka Milchovska. Their constant professional concern for the condition of art objects enables the realization of one of the essential museum tasks, such as the protection of works of art and cultural heritage.
Gianfranco Baruchello, Virtue in Need, 1963, mixed media, 190x200cm (MSU painting collection, inv. no. 01864)
Tihomir Topuzovski is the new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje. Following the recent resignation of Mira Gakjina, Topuzovski takes the position of acting director from his previous work at the museum as an editor of the Interdisciplinary and Discursive Programs and editor-in-chief of the Large Glass Journal.
Tihomir Topuzovski received his doctoral degree from the University of Birmingham in the UK. He also has two BAs in Philosophy and Art, and an MA in Art, and has received numerous academic achievement awards and research grants. He was also a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies at the Södertörn University in Stockholm. His research is at the intersection of philosophy, politics, environmental sciences, and the visual arts. He has published a number of papers and participated in individual and group exhibitions. His latest work includes а monograph ‘Postanarchism and Critical Art Practices’ (forthcoming – Bloomsbury Academic), an edited book: with Saul Newman The Posthuman Pandemic (2021), published by Bloomsbury Academic. His other recent works are Aesthetics Technique and Spatial Occupation in Hybrid Political Regimes, Baltic Worlds, Vol. XIV:3, pp 57-63 (2021), and a contribution of chapter to an edited book: Topuzovski T. & Andreas L. (2020) Political protest, temporary urbanism and the deactivation of urban spaces, in Transforming Cities Through Temporary Urbanism – A Comparative Overview, ed. ANDRES, L & ZHANG, Y, Springer. He has organized and contributed to various artistic projects and presentations within the MoCA Skopje programs including ‘Dis/Ordering the Art World’ and ‘Landscape of Anxiety’. Topuzovski is editor-in-chief of The Large Glass Journal for Contemporary Art, Culture, and Theory, published annually by the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje.
